Turkeys... Now or Later?

As fortuitous as the unusual and liberal spring rains have been for the eastern wheat ranchers, sad to say it has not been a good thing for the upland birds and, in particular, the local wild turkey crop. Listening to a couple of fellow wildlife biologists and enthusiasts, they expressed dire concern over this year's lack of reproduction of wild turkeys.

When the chicks are in felt or fuzzy stage and get rained on the chances for survival are dim. When the rains come sporadically and in minimal amounts as they often do in eastern Oregon some of the young birds have a reasonable chance for survival. That has not been the case this spring in much of eastern Oregon, Wasco and Sherman County in particular. Rains have been prolific, cold and extensive. This has been the longest cold and rainy spring season that even the old-timers can remember.

One woods rat I shared my concerns with told me stories of seeing one group of 8 hens strolling around with no chicks or poults. I have seen a total of 11 hens afoot, in various groupings, with no chicks or poults. I have located two nests with hatched eggs, but have seen no chicks with hens in that area. I have not seen a single hen with any chicks or poults. This paints a dismal picture for juvenile recruitment and maintenance of wild turkey crops and overall population. Other outdoor folks that I trust have related similar stories and all in all I have only heard of two chicks being spotted with a hen.

I have read that one biologist believes that some of those hens will re-nest and bring off another clutch if they lost the first one. This is something I am not familiar with and must be a rare situation, but I suppose anything is possible. No doubt other upland birds such as chukars, Hungarian partridge and pheasant nestings have suffered during this extended cold and rainy spring here in eastern Oregon. The California quail can always be counted on to nest, re-nest and clutch until they bring off a hatch of chicks no matter the timing. The other upland birds are not often so diligent and often fail to re-nest once the original hatch fails. Unless they go into overdrive the outlook for upland bird season may well be anything but rosy.

And this brings me to the overall point of this blog. I very seldom support more limits or closures of hunting seasons and opportunity. BUT, fall turkey seasons are often slated based on the health and growth of wild turkey populations. The ODF&W Commission might well consider cancelling or limiting fall turkey seasons due to this year's lack of juvenile recruitment to replace adult birds that would be taken by fall hunters. This fall turkey season is such a small hunting opportunity anyway, the hunters of eastern Oregon would not miss much and those adult birds (hens and juveniles are often the easiest to kill during a fall hunt) might well mean the difference between glowing future turkey spring seasons and limited ones. If you agree that a little less turkey hunting this fall might mean a lot better populations of turkeys in the future I suggest you drop a note to the ODF&W and express your concerns. I don't want to be a single voice crying in the wilderness.

A Terror in Clown's clothing

One of the most ruthless ground predators in eastern Oregon in the common Raccoon. This pest ravages and damages untold numbers of upland bird nests and eats every young bird it can catch. Along with other ground varmints like skunks and opossums the raccoon is a major limiting factor in upland bird populations. Around town is intimidates house dogs and cats and eats their food right on the back porch, raids garbage cans and kills the neighborhood chickens in their coops. And if the homeowner has a backyard fish pool raccoons have voracious appetites for exotic fish.

One of the problems in all this is lack of control. The raccoon is still listed on the fur bearers role in Oregon and requires a fur takers license to dispose of legally. The Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife continues to require a fur takers license for hunters to even incidentally take raccoon. Unfortunately there are not enough bona fide coon hunters that chase raccoons with hounds in eastern Oregon to control the raccoon populations. The raccoon populations rise and fall with the whims of nature. When on the rise those populations create havoc with upland bird populations. Where local raccoon populations find access to drainage and canyons that are excellent habitat for pheasants, quail, chukar or partridge the upland hunter will find severe reductions from former years' bird populations. Only the bobcat or feral housecat (cats dumped in the wild by unthinking and uncaring owners) is a worse predator on upland birds.

The answer to this problem is for the ODF&W to rethink their attitude toward the raccoon. The raccoon should be listed with the coyote, opossum and other unregulated varmints.

Good luck on that.

Spring Chinooking

For all those anglers that live and fish on the Columbia in eastern Oregon and Washington it was great to be allowed to angle for those great spring Chinook. All too often in the past we have been excluded from the angling picture on some of the biggest runs of spring Chinook. This year that ended and fishermen are still out there on the River chasing those elusive springers.

This is a wonderful change and those that appreciate it should let the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and the Washington DNA know. It has been easy to complain and rant about being forgotten when the springers came up the River, but now it is time to THANKS to those that remembered that we do not "live on the dark side of the Moon" over here "On the Dry Side." I know I haven't seen a lot of fish caught, but at least we had the opportunity to get out there and fish...when the wind allowed, that is. It is nice to be included.

And being counted is what really counts.

ATV Anger

The explosion of numbers of ATV’s, ORV’s and UTV’s is nothing short of a disaster for wildlife and wild country. The illegal, unscrupulous and self-centered use of these rattling, clattering, smoking and unnecessary machines in the woods and on the prairies makes me almost weep. Managers of The Forest Service, State Forest and Bureau of Land Management have had to institute regulations to control land and wildlife damage caused by ATV’s. My contacts with the OREGON State Police Wildlife Officers tell me they spend an inordinate and wasteful amount of time chasing operators of these devices when they should be doing constructive wildlife conservation.

The use of ATV’s for shed antlers has created further problems for calving cow elk. Most ATV operators pay absolutely no attention to regulations that limit ATV traffic to marked roads. Running those machines hell-bent through the prairie and woods is causing cows to abort their young or abandon calves already aground. These are precious wildlife treasures lost forever by uncaring ATV operators that belong to all Oregon residents.

The present regulations and controls are absolutely worthless. To fine ATV or ORV operators $125.00 for a violation when they are sitting astraddle of a machine that costs upward of $8000.00 means nothing. Some of the UTV’s cost nearly $20,000. Anyone that can afford a play toy like that because they won’t hike to hunt or fish or enjoy the outdoors is not going to be stopped by some pitifully small fine.

Confiscation of the vehicle for blatant violations is the only answer.

Welcome to Open Season blog

Welcome to my blog. I will be posting articles soon on hunting, fishing, wildlife concerns and some political commentary that pertains to those particular interests.